Suissevale Board Members Attendance - Rules apply to Some

At the February 15, 2020 monthly Suissevale Board of Directors meeting, I asked a question concerning Mike Donahue’s' violation of the Boards attendance policy.

As of the date of that meeting, each Board member was required to attend at least 6 meeting in a calendar year. From the 2019 board minutes, Mike attended only 4 meetings and missed at least 6 meetings. (I say at least because the 11th Board meeting minutes, the July Annual Meeting, was not published as of that date.)

The answer I was given was that "The Board of Directors will look into this matter". Please look at the web site for the minutes of that meeting.

When the Agenda for the March 2020 was published on the web site, I was surprised to see that the matter of Mike Donahue was not there. (It should be noted that this meeting was subsequently cancelled at a later time.)

So, I wrote to Rich DeForge via e-mail on March 7, 2020 asking if this may have been an oversight and if the Agenda could be corrected to include a discussion of Mike's failure to meet the attendance requirements, as required by the Board's own rules. I also asked if Mike had been asked to resign which was one of the remedies. Elaine acknowledged my e-mail on March 8, 2020.

Not receiving a response, I e-mailed a second request on March 13, 2020.

On April 3, 2020, I received this response from Rich DeForge.

Tom,

The BOD has reviewed your issue of Mike Donahue not being in attendance for 6 BOD meetings this year, and you wondering why he has not been removed from the BOD.

As you know, Mike is a valuable asset to Suissevale. He has managed Suissevale clothing sales for years, improved the AC in the clubhouse, and provided valuable cost estimates for future projects which affect the budget.

Due to private concerns, be it family, illness, business, etc., Mike was absent from a number of meetings. This is not a valid reason for removal from the BOD.

I hope you can see that if a very active volunteer Board Member has legitimate reason not being able to attend a meeting, this would not be a reason to remove.

Thanks, Rich

These are the facts and timeline of this issue. Apparently, the Board does not disagree with my facts concerning Mike's attendance problems or the fact that he violated the Board's own rule for attendance.

I ask you to draw your own conclusions.

I would also like to point out the following obvious conflict of interest.

As identified in the draft minutes of the April 18, 2020 Board Meeting, a discussion and vote was held concerning the proposed 5 year planning projects as managed by John Barba.

On one of these proposals, Rich DeForge made a motion to open up Conte Street to Rte 109. This was seconded by Mike Donahue. The vote was 8 no, 1 abstain, 4 yes.

Not one person on the Board objected to Mike's second of the proposal. As the Board knows, as well as many of us, Mike stands to personally benefit from the Conte Street extension.

Mike is an owner/builder of a house on Conte Street on the Rte 109 end. It should also be noted that Mike voted yes on the proposal, even though, the draft minutes do not reflect how individual Board members voted.

Again, not one Board member objected, nor did Mike recuse himself.

Did Mike have an incentive to stay on the Board even if it was a hardship for him?

Rich mentioned private concerns but was very vague. If Mike or a family member has health or other concerns as Rich mentioned, It would be another reason that Mike should resign or be removed because He could not devote his proper attention to the issues of running and maintain a large community the size of Suissevale.

I believe the Board is missing another major reasons for being on the Board. As stated in the Board of Directors' Eligibility Requirement Criteria dated August 20, 2016 (on the web site), " It is expected that each board member be active on the board". It further states "This is difficult to do if they fail to consistently attend the monthly meetings".

Mike apparently cannot meet these criteria. He should resign and not run for reelection.

Your opinions are always welcome.

Sincerely, Tom Keddy